tagged w/ Houghton County
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(Marquette, Michigan) - It’s a 1,300 mile, two month odyssey - kayaking around the always beautiful and sometimes treacherous Lake Superior
Ashland, Wisconsin residents Alissa Weitz and Brian Castillo are promoting the protection of Lake Superior - the world’s largest freshwater lake.
The twenty somethings departed Bayfield, Wisconsin on July 1 and hope to complete their journey by September.
The kayaking duo left Marquette, Michigan on Tuesday afternoon, July 22, 2008 to continue their journey.
They arrived in Marquette for Lake Superior Day 2008 - this year that was July 20 2008.
Lake Superior Day is sponsored by the Lake Superior Bi-national Forum and is held annually on the third Sunday of July.
Alissa and Brian spent Lake Superior Day hiking with friends and swimming including jumping off the tall cliffs at the city's "black rocks."
A big part of their quest is educating the public about protecting Lake Superior and why the largest of the Great Lakes is so important..
The trek takes them through the Canada and the United States including Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Averaging 25 miles a day - with their longest day was about 40 miles.
They encountered water temperatures as low as 38 degrees, fog outside of Marquette, rough waves outside of Houghton, Michigan that prevent them from rounding the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula - and instead cut through the Keweenaw Waterway.
Thanks to Down Wind Sports in Marquette, Brian picked up a new kayak because of problems with the one used during the first part of their trek.
Weitz is a native of Dubuque, Iowa and Castillo is a native of Madison, Wisconsin.
Alissa is 26 years old and Brian is 23 years old.
Graduates of the Northland College outdoor education program in Ashland, Wisconsin, the couple were competitors working for different kayak guiding companies when they met two years ago and fell in love.
The Kayaker's (Alissa Weitz, Brian Castillo) "Session on Superior" blog about trip around the lake:
http://www.sessiononsuperior.blogspot.com
This video was made in cooperation with the Cedar Tree Institute, the Earth Keeper Initiative, the Earth Healing Initiative and the Turtle Island Project – all northern Michigan-based non-profits seeking to protect Lake Superior.
And special thanks to the Lake Superior Binational Forum for helping make this video possible..
Greg Peterson for Earth Keeper, Earth Healing and Turtle Island TV
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News coverage of Alissa, Brian:
Marquette paper:
http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/513083.html
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Ashland paper:
Marquette Photo:
http://www.ashlandwi.com/articles/2008/07/24/news/doc4888981f7b087681234763.txt
Story prior to trip:
http://www.ashlandwi.com/articles/2008/07/02/news/doc486b8dfe3df63322933742.txt
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WX Channnel:
http://uservideo.weather.com:80/item/GY56YQ4K0TH0B3CS
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Lake Superior Binational Forum
Lissa Radke, LSFB US Coordinator
715-682-1489
http://www.superiorforum.info
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Northland College in Ashland, WI:
http://www.northland.edu/Northland
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Down Wind Sports:
http://www.downwindsports.com/index.html
Owners: Bill Thompson, Todd King, Jeff Stasser and Arni Ronis
Marquette: 906-226-7112
Houghton: 906-482-2500
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Sea Kayak Specialists:
http://www.seakayakspecialists.com
Sam Crowley, Nancy Uschold
906-250-4238
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EcoSuperior Enviro:
http://www.ecosuperior.com
Environment Canada:
http://www.ec.gc.ca
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Video made in cooperation with:
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Turtle Island Project official website:
http://www.turtleislandproject.org
Earth Healing Initiative official website:
http://www.EarthHealingInitiative.org
Cedar Tree Institute: (Michigan Earth Keepers, Manoomin Project and the 2008 Zaagkii Wings & Seeds project)
http://www.cedartreeinstitute.org
Earth Keeper TV
http://www.youtube.com/yoopernewsman
Turtle Island TV (youtube)
http://www.youtube.com/MunisingWhiteHorse
Earth Healing TV
http://www.youtube.com/user/EarthHealingTV(Marquette, Michigan) - It’s a 1,300 mile, two month odyssey - kayaking around... more
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The Western Upper Peninsula Electronics Recycling Program and the Retired & Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) provide an environmentally and economically sound solution to disposing of household electronic waste.
Residents of Baraga, Gogebic, Houghton, Keweenaw, and Ontonagon Counties may bring their items to e-waste collection sites on the specified collection dates in their area.
The initiative received grants and other assistance from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The collection is part of the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge involving over 100 projects in eight states across the Great Lakes Basin.
More than a dozen previous collections since 2005 have garnered nearly 48 tons of e-waste from over 850 participants.
2005: 8 collections, 26.5 tons
2006: 4 collections, 15 tons
2007: 1 collection, 6.25 tons
Called e-waste, electronics waste includes old /broken computers, cell phones, and TVs.
The collection for Houghton and Keweenaw counties will be June 21 from 9 a.m. to noon at the health department in Hancock.
An e-waste collection will be held in Baraga County on July 12 from 10 a.m. to noon at a site to be announced.
Collection events for other Copper Country counties will be announced in the future.
The cost to drop off e-waste is 10 cents per pound.
The collection will accept a wide range of e-waste including cell phones, computer and related equipment like laptops, monitors, towers aka central processing units, printers, scanners, keyboards and computer mice
Other e-waste accepted includes stereo equipment, televisions, VCR and DVD players, copiers, cordless telephones, fax machines, fluorescent light bulbs that are 4 to 8 feet in length, microwave ovens and batteries including alkaline, nickel cadmium, lead acid, lithium, mercury.
It's estimate that between 1997 and 2007, nearly 500 million personal computers became obsolete. That's almost 2 computers for every person in the United States.
TV's and computer monitors contain an average of 4 pounds of lead and other toxins.
According to Closing the Circle News, the manufacture of one computer consumes 529 pounds of fossil fuels, 49 pounds of chemicals, and 3,307 pounds of water.
The EPA says nearly 250 million computers will become obsolete nationwide in the next five years.
For additional info contact the Western Upper Peninsula Electronics Recycling Program or RSVP at 906-482-7382.
The goal of the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge was the collecting and recycling of one million pounds of electronics (e-Waste) plus the collection and proper disposal of one million pills. The goals were exceeded by 500 percent.
The Earth Healing Initiative assisted some challenge organizers with interfaith liaisons to volunteer and encourage members of local churches/temples to participate in the Earth Day events in their area.
This video on the projects in the EPA Challenge was made possible by a grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency; the EPA's Region 5 office and the EPA Great Lakes National Program Office in Chicago, with the non-profit Interfaith Earth Healing Initiative in Marquette, MI.
The EHI involves American Indian tribes and a coalition of churches, synagogues and other faith traditions joining together to heal, protect and defend the environment.
I’m Greg Peterson, Earth Healing TV
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Western U.P. District Health Department
http://www.wupdhd.org/rsvp/e-waste.html
RSVP
http://www.wupdhd.org/rsvp/index.html
EPA Region 5 Office Chicago
http://www.epa.gov/region5
Interfaith Earth Healing Initiative
http://www.EarthHealingInitiative.org
Cedar Tree Institute
http://www.CedarTreeInstitute.org
Interfaith graphics by Justice St. Rain (Baha'i) of Interfaith Resources - Special Ideas website:
http://www.interfaithresources.com
1-800-326-1197
1-847-733-3559The Western Upper Peninsula Electronics Recycling Program and the Retired & Senior... more
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